It is possible that every home alarm system will produce a false alarm at some point. When they do occur, they can cause a lot of a panic by creating the impression that an attack or intrusion is in progress. Though they are not ideal, there are a number of ways to avoid them, but when they do occur, you should know how to handle them effectively.
What to do immediately when a false alarm goes off
Once you confirm that the alert is false, the first thing you should do is to disarm the home alarm system and turn off the siren.
You may then receive a call from your residential alarm monitoring company, inquiring whether everything is okay, to which you will respond in the affirmative. The purpose of this call is to ascertain that there is no threat present, via verbal confirmation, so they will not send a dispatch to your home, and thus spare you any applicable false alarm fines.
It is also vital for you to know exactly what might have caused the false alarm. It could have been tripped by yourself, your child or your pet, in which case, you should make the necessary adjustments to prevent future triggers.
In the event that you don’t know what might have caused the alarm to go off, you should take your time to inspect the entire system to check if perhaps someone might have tampered with the components accidentally. If you don’t know what to look for, then simply call your home alarm monitoring system experts to help you out.
How to prevent the occurrence of false alarms
The most important thing, however, is to take precautionary measures to avoid the occurrence of false alarms in the future. These may include but are not limited to the following:
- Let everyone in the home know the procedure and the codes for arming and disarming the alarm system
- Ensure all doors and windows are closed tightly before the system is armed
- Pets should be kept away from the sensors
- Test the system regularly
These precautions should be sufficient to prevent the occurrence of false alarms in the future.
